Timothy the Ghost Engine
by DonaldDouglasandToby6
Summary: Bill and Ben listen to a story by Salty, but believe it to be rubbish. They then play a joke on Molly, pretending to be the ghost. But Molly gets frightened and is horrified to learn that a Timothy is there at the Clay Pits. Timothy decides to teach Bill and Ben a lesson.
Red wheels pounded the rails as a light beamed into a thick fog.

"Are you sure you know where you're going, Ben?"

"Of course, Bill. I can see perfectly!"

Bill and Ben were heading to Brendam Docks with a train of crates, due to work not being able to continue at the Clay Pits.

They noticed Cranky's silhouette and knew they were there.

"I can barely see, with all this fog..." complained Ben.

"I know! My lamp isn't helping very much," agreed Bill crossly.

They came to a halt, just as Salty rushed beside them.

Bill and Ben smirked to each other, knowing what was going to come next.

"Argh, mighty good time for a story, I say!" grinned the Dockside Diesel.

"Oh, yes please!" exclaimed Bill and Ben together, "We need some entertainment."

"*ahem* A long, long time ago... When there were few engines on this railway, There was a tank engine... with the number 0. His name was Timothy-"

"Timothy was always zero," Ben joked.

"...yes. Anyway, the engine was respected by everyone else. But one day... he became evil and threw himself off a viaduct."

The engines blinked, as an awkward silence fell over the Docks.

Salty expected grins from Bill and Ben, but he only got confused looks.

"...is that it?" asked Bill.

"Pretty much," said Salty, "That was good, right? I liked the part where he became evil. Suspenseful and deep."

Bill and Ben glanced to each other.

"Salty, we love your stories but... that was terrible!" spluttered Ben.

"No effort was put into that at all!" huffed Bill.

"But... it was good..."

"No it wasn't."

"Hey, it's a Sodor urban legend that is told around Halloween. I can't control if it's bad," Salty grunted.

"...yes you can."

Salty snorted.

"You engines just don't know the wholesomeness of strong storytelling..."

And Salty rushed away.

Bill blinked.

"Well, someone's... 'salty'."

Ben laughed.

"Good joke!"

The twins sat in silence for a little while.

"Well, wanna race back to Wellsworth?" asked Bill suddenly.

"Why not?" grinned Ben, "We've got some time to destroy, eh?"

Soon the twins were turned around and they raced away in a huff, just as Porter raced up with a couple of brakevans.

"Wait! Bill, Ben... You forgot... brakevans..."

Porter sighed.

"Why do I bother..."

"You just summed up my life," said Cranky.

As Bill and Ben puffed away, Bill smirked.

"You know Ben, I suddenly got an ingenious idea."

"And what's that, Bill?"

"Let's prank whoever's at the station with that corny ghost Salty told us about! The one with Timothy!"

"Why?"

"Because we prank engines all the time, it'll be funny, and we could just blame Salty if we get into trouble."

"Mmm... Good point. What's the plan?"

"Okay so you're going to wheesh steam, and I'll puff alongside the engine and roll my eyes in circles and make an evil laugh. I'll shout 'I'm Timothy and I'm randomly evil; fear me. It's funny."

"Brilliant!" grinned Bill, "Let's just hurry up. I'll be there first!"

"You're on! Again."

Ben surged forward, grinning, with Bill rushing behind.

At Wellsworth Station, Molly was anxiously waiting for her guard.

"Hello...? Anyone there...? Guard...?"

A rumble was heard and then a horn blasted as Pip and Emma rocketed past with the midnight express.

Molly screamed as she closed her eyes, frightened by the noise.

"Ooh, this is the worst night to be alone... Every night..."

She looked urgently behind her as she noticed some steam, curious.

"What's that...?"

A loud whistle blew, making Molly jump.

"He-hello...? Anyone there?"

"Hello..." a voice said quietly.

The yellow engine turned her attention to Bill as he puffed beside her and evilly laughed.

"Who are you?" Molly asked with a shiver; she met Bill and Ben once before, but she hadn't really remembered who they were.

"I am Timothy, the ghost engine. I am randomly evil. You must fear me," Bill stated in a mocking voice and he laughed again.

Molly was very scared, and didn't know what to do.

"H-help! Somebody!"

"I am randomly going to destroy you!" cried Bill.

Molly screamed and raced away as fast as her wheels could carry her, just as the guard ran out with his midnight sandwich.

"Okay, I got my lovely tuna, now-"

The guard stared as Molly had left the station.

"Well, great."

Bill and Ben howled with laughter as the former puffed alongside the latter.

"That was our best joke in years! I don't even know who she was but it was funny!"

"Yes. Who was that anyway?"

"I don't know but it was hilarious!" exclaimed Ben.

"I know. I don't think this would make her paranoid of anyone named Timothy, right?"

'Yeah, we're safe."

The next morning, Timothy was shunting trucks for Marion when Molly raced in with her cargo.

"Oh. Hello Molly," said Timothy cheerfully.

He was a bit surprised to find Molly looked pale and very frightened indeed.

"Timothy's coming! He's randomly evil!" Molly groaned.

Marion and Timothy blinked.

"...who's coming?" "The ghost engine! Timothy!" Molly spluttered, "I met him at Wellsworth! He was very scary! He said he was randomly evil!"

Before Timothy could reply, Marion spoke first.

"So... who's evil? Because Timothy's right here."

She pointed her shovel towards the blue tank engine.

Timothy chuckled nervously.

"Well, yes, I am Timothy..."

Molly braked and stared for a moment.

Timothy and Marion blinked again, surprised by her reaction.

Molly stared for another moment as her eyes widened.

She then reversed as fast as she could, shutting her eyes in fear.

Timothy was surprised.

He looked to Marion, hoping for some kind of answer.

"...what was that supposed to be about?" he asked, confused.

"Not sure. I probably shouldn't of said your name though," said Marion, "Sorry. Heh heh..."

Just then, Bill and Ben puffed in with some China clay.

"Hello Bill, hi Ben," said Timothy, as his mood slowly darkened with the twins around.

"Hey Timothy, guess the amazing prank we just pulled," Ben grinned.

Bill braked suddenly, angry with his twin for revealing their secret.

"Ben!"

"What?"

"You're not supposed to tell engines of their pranks! We discussed this!"

"Oh. Oops."

Marion and Timothy looked to each other.

"Did you... have something to do with Molly being scared of the name 'Timothy'...?" Timothy asked with suspicion.

Bill gulped.

"Uh..."

"No, that was Bill."

"What?! Ben, what are you doing?!"

"Well I'm not taking the blame, Bill."

"It was so obviously you Ben."

"Nope, it was you. You suggested it."

"Well you went along with it!"

"I don't care who it was, you're both to blame," snapped Timothy.

"Shall I inform the manager?" asked Marion, smirking, "He can take care of this."

Bill and Ben stopped glaring at each other and suddenly realized they could get into big trouble.

"No! Please don't do that!" begged Bill.

"Oh but we can, and we will," argued Marion, "You caused poor Molly a lot of trouble."

"But we didn't mean to do anything wrong! We didn't even know who she was!"

"Doesn't matter. Still was wrong," said Marion and her pistons pumped so she could leave.

Timothy suddenly got an idea, and grinned.

"Marion... maybe we should let them off the hook, this one time."

Ben stammered.

"Yes! Do exactly that- wait, what?"

Marion was confused too.

"Why? They pulled a dirty trick on Molly!"

"Trust me Marion... I understand them..."

Bill and Ben blinked, but said nothing; they didn't want to risk getting back into trouble.

"But, it, I... Oh... Fine..." Marion sighed.

"Good."

Timothy whistled and puffed away.

Bill, Ben and Marion were left in an awkward silence.

"So uh... We'll just... go over there." Bill said.

"Yes. Do that. I'll be watching you though..."

"Yes. Good. Brilliant, in fact," stuttered Ben as he raced away.

"Right behind you, Ben," spluttered Bill as he followed Ben.

Marion sighed.

"Why can't I work at Harwick again..."

Later, Timothy arrived at Brendam Docks with a delivery, smirking to himself.

"Excuse me? Salty?" he asked as he came to a halt beside him.

The diesel grinned.

"Argh matey. Hello there! What is it ye be needing out of my treasure chest of memories?"

"Seriously?" said Cranky.

"What was the color of Timothy, Salty?" Timothy asked the Dockside Diesel.

Cranky sighed.

"...great, this again. I give up."

Salty was slightly surprised by the question.

"Er... uh... How do you know about him?"

"It's been floating around," Timothy said nonchalantly, "What's the color of the tank engine?"

"Well... he was gray, I think. He also had the number zero because... uh... the original teller of the story probably didn't think that through."

"Isn't that you?" sneered Cranky.

"Cranky, I'd appreciate it if you backed me up once in a while, matey," Salty scoffed.

"Well that goes against my rules of living. Sorry...!"

"Why are you so interested in the ghost engine, Timothy...?" asked Porter suspiciously, "You're not superstitious."

"No, I'm not. It's something else I have planned..." Timothy grinned and he puffed away.

"Well that was morbid," Porter muttered.

"Wonder what he's planning..." said Salty, "You think he's going to become randomly evil?"

Cranky blinked.

"Salty... stop."

At the Steamworks, a workman brushed a dab of silver paint onto Spencer's tender.

"Ugh, how long is this going to take, Victor?" Spencer complained, "I have to take the Duke and Duchess back to the Mainland after their holiday."

"Just a while longer, Spencer," Victor muttered, "The workmen can't paint you in an instant you know."

"I guess not but I don't want the Duke and Duchess to be cross," scoffed Spencer.

"I think it's more along the lines of _you_ being cross," huffed Victor.

Just then, Timothy puffed in, surprising Spencer and Victor.

"Victor? Do you have any spare gray paint?" the oil-burning engine asked.

"Uh... Well... I suppose so. We have enough paint to repaint an engine... Why do you ask?"

"I need to be repainted gray to... uh... give myself a new look," Timothy said quickly.

Spencer rose an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Victor grinned.

"Ah, I see... Of course, my friend. Kevin will bring the paint, and we'll soon repaint you to your specifications."

"What about me?!" cried Spencer.

"You're almost done, anyway," Victor sighed, "Kevin! Can you bring some gray paint?"

"Of course, boss! Right away!" Kevin called back.

Timothy grinned; he was sure his plan would work.

That night, another fog was floating over the China Clay Works.

Marion was already asleep, but Bill and Ben remained awake.

"This fog makes my dome shake a bit..." Bill gulped.

"You're only scared," taunted Ben, "it's perfectly safe. We work here every day."

"I'm not scared," retorted Bill.

"Prove it," smirked Ben.

"...how? I have no fire."

"Oh."

Marion snored loudly, cutting the twins off.

They scowled angrily at her, just as a ghostly whistle sounded.

They had never heard it before, making their boilers run cold.

Bill looked to his twin, who was pale.

"...d-did you h-hear that, B-ben?"

"...y-yes... W-what is it?"

Bill squinted through the fog and noticed a tank engine coming towards them.

"Oh... It's probably Timothy..." he sighed with relief.

"But... that... wasn't his whistle..." Ben retorted.

Bill's face paled.

"Oh..."

The tank engine stopped a few yards from Bill and Ben, grinning, but not in a good way.

Bill and Ben looked to each other with fright.

"W-what do you want?" Bill snapped.

The tank engine's grin widened.

Ben's face paled when he noticed the number 0 on the engine's side.

"B-bill... I think... it's..."

"Timothy!" the twins screamed at once.

The ghost engine grinned and started to talk in a raspy voice.

"I hear you've been... impersonating me... You know what happens to engines who do that?"

Bill and Ben were too stunned to speak.

"They... get... scrapped!"

Bill and Ben screamed and shut their eyes, luckily not waking up Marion.

They didn't open them up until morning, as they quickly set off for work to forget about their ghostly experience.

At Brendam Docks, Bill and Ben braked behind some tankers to drop off some China clay.

"And so it was very funny," chuckled a familiar voice.

Bill's eyebrows rose.

"That's Timothy! I wonder what he's talking about."

"Shh," whispered Ben harshly and he looked over to find Timothy laughing with Porter, BoCo and Derek.

"What happened then, Timothy?" Derek asked, giggling.

"Oh, it was hilarious. I said that they would be scrapped if they impersonated Timothy. I felt a bit bad at first, but-"

"Wait a second!" came a voice.

The three engines perked up and looked over to find Bill and Ben behind the tankers.

"How dare you not tell us it was youuuu," Ben said in a spooky voice, "We'll get reveengeee..."

"Ben are you trying to be the tanker...?" asked BoCo.

"Uh... maybe."

"Well you're yellow so it's kind've a giveaway."

Ben groaned.

"Oh yeah... Oops."

"Can you tell me why you're here exactly?" Timothy asked, hoping that they hadn't found out what the conversation was about.

But the glares Bill and Ben gave him convinced him otherwise.

"Uh oh..." Timothy gulped.

"You have some explaining to do, Timothy!" Bill scowled.

BoCo and Derek looked to each other and rolled away together, while Porter backed up to buffer up to some flatbeds.

Timothy was surprised.

"Wait, no! Don't leave... Oh..."

Bill and Ben puffed forward, leaving their hiding spots.

"So _you_ were the one who tricked us! I should've known!" Ben fumed, "That wasn't funny, Timothy!"

"Neither was your joke on Molly," retorted Timothy crossly, "I wanted to give you a chance to see how it feels to be scared by another engine."

Bill and Ben looked to each other, realizing Timothy had a point.

"Oh... I suppose that's true..." Ben said quietly.

"How did you disguise yourself anyway?" asked Bill, "The fog helped, but I didn't see your lamp and you had different paint."

"I got my lamp removed and got a repaint at the Steamworks," he explained.

"Oh, _that's_ why you asked for the color," Porter laughed, "Your plan was pretty well put together."

"Not for us..." Ben muttered.

"Well, you should be grateful it wasn't worse for Molly; she, being a lot more sensitive than you are, is probably still hiding in the shed right now!" Timothy continued.

Bill frowned.

"I... see... Oh dear... You think we messed up, Ben?"

"Probably, Bill..."

The two looked back at Timothy.

"Where is she?" asked Ben.

"From what I've heard, she's at Wellsworth, refusing to come out of the shed," spoke up Porter.

Bill and Ben winced.

"We better go... Bye Timothy, Porter."

The twins whistled and rushed away.

Cranky smirked as he looked down at Timothy.

"Well played..."

Timothy grinned.

At Wellsworth Sheds, Molly whimpered as Emily puffed up to her.

"Come on Molly, there is no ghost," she said consolingly, "It might've just been your imagination."

"There re-really i-is a gh-ghost though! He ran up to me said he was r-randomly e-evil!"

"Randomly evil?" Emily asked blankly.

"Yes, randomly evil! The worst kind of evil!" Molly spluttered.

Emily sighed, just as she heard Bill and Ben's whistles.

"Oh no..."

Molly shrieked when she noticed the twins puffing up.

"It's the ghost! He's come bacK!"

Emily was surprised.

"What?"

"Uh... We can explain this..." Ben said quickly.

Emily glared at the tank engine twins.

"...you better..."

"Okay so, we maybe wanted to pull a prank on someone about being that ghost engine from Salty's story, and we maybe actually pulled it on Molly..." said Bill.

Molly blinked.

"So... the ghost isn't real? It was just you?"

"Uh... maybe."

"Shame on you," scolded Emily, "We-"

"Yes, we already got a lecture from Marion and Timothy, we don't need one from you too," Ben muttered.

"B-but Timothy's still a r-real engine," Molly shivered, "You just mentioned him!"

"He's a blue oil-burning tank engine who works with us at the Clay Pits," explained Bill, "He's very friendly."

Molly blushed, realizing her mistake.

"Oh... oops."

"It's alright; you didn't know," replied Bill, "It was mostly our fault anyway."

Emily rolled her eyes.

"Alright, you apologized. You better get back to work before your manager finds out."

"Oh yeah. Bye!"

Bill and Ben reversed, leaving Molly and Emily by themselves.

That night, at the China Clay Pits, Bill and Ben puffed into the shed, between a smirking Marion and Timothy.

"So, did you apologize?" asked Marion.

"What do you mean...?" asked Bill suspiciously, "How did you find out?"

"Timothy told me everything," Marion explained, "I must say, you are clever, Timothy!"

Timothy chuckled.

"I suppose so, but I might've overdone it... You weren't traumatized, were you?"

"Nope, I'm as sane as ever," said Bill.

"Same," said Ben.

"Alright, I didn't do anything permanent. Does this mean you've learned your lesson?" asked Timothy hopefully.

"Well... Maybe a little," admitted Bill.

"We should know more when too far is too far," added Ben, "We've been forgetting that lately."

"Indeed you have," grinned Marion, "But it's nice to see your progress."

"Timothy's still a load of rubbish though... The ghost engine, I mean," said Bill.

"Indeed... How could anyone believe that?" said Ben, giggling.

"Timothy's coming! He's coming to make us all into trees! Help the world!" yelled a man as he ran by.

The engines blinked, then all laughed.


End file.
